New York’s Hispanic Catholics yesterday recalled John Cardinal O’Connor as one of their own – a spiritual leader who understood their plight as immigrants.

Several thousand parishioners from an array of Latin American countries attended a Spanish-language Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral and said their goodbyes to the church leader who endeared himself to the city’s 2.2 million Hispanics.

“He had a great compassion for the disadvantaged and the working poor and we must remember that Cardinal O’Connor cares for us and that he was the foundation of the Hispanic church,” Bishop Francisco Garmendia of the New York Archdiocese told the congregants.

“We give him thanks for all that he did,” said Garmendia. “There is no doubt that Cardinal O’Connor will respond to us and care for us in heaven … we must continue to pray to our beloved cardinal.”

When O’Connor arrived in the Big Apple 16 years ago, he quickly recognized Hispanics as a dominant force in the archdiocese and learned Spanish.

“He was greatly loved,” said Elsa Almonte of Manhattan, a retired sewing machine operator, after the Mass. “He respected immigrants and knew us to be working people who wanted a better life for our children.”

O’Connor routinely visited the city’s leading Hispanic churches – giving special donations to those houses of worship and paying homage to several of Latin America’s most prominent patron saints.

“He was such a beautiful man who was always speaking on behalf of us,” said Almonte.

“He seemed to be of the same blood with us, and he spoke as if he suffered like us,” said Jose Badillo, 51, an orderly at a senior-citizens home in Yonkers.

“He was one of the most important leaders we had,” said Ana Maria Lopez, 33, who works as a housekeeper. “I would like our next cardinal to continue and do the same – keep us together and bring us back to the church.”